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Not in my own family but I do know of one such where the male is now female although I don't know how things would have been explained etc. & have no wish to know

Annie

so what do you mean by " they wouldn't be able to grasp the difference between gran & grandad (the relationship) on either side" sorry?

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My grandfather had three cousins who were given full titles - Cousin Sarah, Cousin Gertie and Cousin Annie - whenever they were spoken of, and even spoken to. They were not closely related to each other, coming from different parts of the family. They signed Christmas cards with these names, too. These titles were handed down to younger generations, so my mother also referred to them in the same way and down another generation so did my brother and I. Cousin Annie's daughter signed her cards to us as Cousin Vera. Just a quaint family custom, I suppose. Curiously my mother's true cousin was known to us children as Auntie Hilda.

Thankyou guys, anyway my main point was that until a person is old enough to understand and differentiate between a blood relative to a none-blood relative they may not realise an Uncle and Uncle-in-law is different

This is all becoming a bit pedantic.You would be talking about very young children here. Part of family life is discovering and explaining relationships through light hearted activities. It used to be looking at photo albums etc but children soon know whose mum and dad their grandparents are. Most families talk and explain.When it comes to more distant relatives - either in terms of relationship or geography then that could be more complicated.

You would be talking about very young children here. Part of family life is discovering and explaining relationships through light hearted activities. It used to be looking at photo albums etc but children soon know whose mum and dad their grandparents are. Most families talk and explain.When it comes to more distant relatives - either in terms of relationship or geography then that could be more complicated.

There's no distinction of siblings-in-law. Always ambiguous unless you know the context.Brother-in-law can be the husband of someone's sister, or the brother of their husband.Sister-in-law can be the wife of someone's brother, or the sister of their wife.

I will say here that the use of "aunty" or "auntie" always grates on me when someone is referring to their aunt. It's fine when used with the name ("I'll ask Auntie Jane" or "Happy birthday, Aunty Liz!" but it seems rather childish to say eg "My aunty would know" instead of "My aunt would know". There's no such issue with "uncle".

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